Lake Michigan Fisheries Forum

Anglers, commercial fishers and others with an interest in Lake Michigan's fisheries can join the Lake Michigan Fisheries Forum to get the latest research, management news and other information about the fishery and to share their feedback with Wisconsin fisheries officials on Lake Michigan topics.

The Lake Michigan Fisheries Forum (LMFF) is facilitated by Phil Moy, UW-Sea Grant, and is independent of the Department of Natural Resources. Representatives from major sport fishing clubs on Lake Michigan and Green Bay, commercial fishers, the Conservation Congress and the University of Wisconsin System are formal members of the forum. Meetings are open to the public.

Forum purpose
The forum's focus is on raising awareness of Lake Michigan fisheries issues and providing an opportunity for discussion, feedback and comment on topics of interest. As of fall 2012, the group has been expanded to 40 members from the 17-member group that has been operating in past years, and its focus has changed from an advisory capacity to raising awareness of Lake Michigan fisheries issues and providing an opportunity for discussion, feedback and comment on topics of interest.

On April 11, 2015 the LMFF will hold the sixth meeting of this group. The agenda for this meeting is varied and includes information on our CWT tagging program, Lake Michigan food web, fisheries economics and more.

On September 17, 2014 the LMFF held its fifth meeting. The Forum reviewed comments received to date from our Lake Michigan Integrated Fisheries Management Plan and provided input and direction on key components on the plan.

On April 5th, the LMFF held its fouth meeting. The members of the group suggested many of the agenda items for this meeting which included an update on the Chinook salmon CWT project, various commercial fishing updates and an update on our Lake Michigan Fisheries plan.

On October 12, 2013, the Lake Michigan Fisheries Forum held its third meeting. The main focus of the morning was to present the latest draft of the chinook salmon stocking strategy to the forum and listen to suggestions and comments. The afternoon session consisted of two presentations. The USFWS sea lamprey control unit talked about their surveys, assessments and control efforts on sea lamprey focusing on efforts in Lake Michigan. Dr. Harvey Bootsma from the UW-M WATER Institute presented information on the impacts of dressenid mussels on the Lake Michigan food web.

Below are the agenda and a signed copy of the chinook salmon stocking recommendation memo plus the approved chinook salmon stocking strategy.

On April 6, 2013, the Lake Michigan Fisheries Forum held its second meeting to discuss important Lake Michigan Fisheries topics. The meeting started with Dr. John Janssen talking about "Is it time for a new paradigm in the Lake Michigan Fishery?" We then listened to the forage assessment report from Dave Warner - USGS, via a recorded talk he gave at the Great Lakes Fishery Commission meetings held in March in Duluth, MN. After that, Brad Eggold discussed salmon stocking strategies and presented a strategy that the Department developed to distribute chinook salmon stocking to the various ports in Wisconsin. The meeting concluded with Bill Horns presenting information on their Lake Michigan Fisheries Integrated Management Plan.

On December 1, 2012, the Lake Michigan Fisheries Forum and other interested stakeholders met to discuss where and how many Chinook salmon should be stocked in each port along Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shoreline. DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp attended the meeting to hear comments, questions and concerns from anglers and stakeholders.

The Deparment has decided that we will stock 798,000 chinook salmon in 2013 distributed among Wisconsin's ports along Lake Michigan and Green Bay. Since this number reflects an overall lower number of fish stocked compared to 2012, each stocking location, except Strawberry Creek, will have the same percent reduction. Read this press release for more information and view the stocking table to see how this change effects your port.